Tips for Super Fat People (Like ME!) Just Starting Out

Everything you know about food is wrong. I’m a reasonably intelligent, educated professional person, but I didn’t know shit about food and nutrition. I thought I was eating “healthy” this whole time because I would get “organic” chips or I would eat sweet potato fries. Unfortunately, there are a lot of corporations out there that benefit from misinformation, and lots of food being touted as healthy that isn’t. RESEARCH keto, HFLC, insulin, IF. YouTube, Keto subreddit, books… Google that shit, because most of what you know is wrong, or we wouldn’t be this size. You’re not stupid, you’re mis-informed and you’ve been fed a lifetime of bullshit by a lot of bullshitters.

You’re exhausted. Push past it. Being super fat is exhausting. You have no energy. It hurts to put on shoes and go to the store, muchless walking around reading labels. START eating right and the energy will come. When I was 415 pounds, literally even walking killed my lower back. It was SO much easier to get starchy, carb-filled take-out with a pint of ice cream and check out after work. Because again, you’re exhausted. Don’t do that. Start eating right and the energy will come, and it will come faster than you expect it to. But seriously, just fucking start. Most people who have lost a shit-ton of weight wish they’d started earlier. The literal earliest point you can start is now. Don’t wait for a health scare. Don’t wait to get the energy. Don’t wait until your first triple bypass to finally get the motivation. The motivation will come when you’re eating HFLC and the scale is going down. That shit is super fucking motivating.

You will not notice body changes for a long fucking time. I’m down 75 pounds, I still have a LONG way to go, and I’m BARELY noticing changes. All my clothes were stretchy (because I was a fucking 5x) so yes, my clothes are baggier than they were, but I’m still wearing my 415-pound clothing. Because it’s all leggings and verrrryyy stretchy material. Learn to appreciate the non-“noticeable” NSVs, like “my back hurts less” or “I can walk longer distances”. Don’t get discouraged if nobody notices for a while because, and I hate to say this, skinnier people spend a lot of time trying to not comment on or notice fat peoples’ weight. They may feel like they’re offending you by pointing it out, or they genuinely can’t/don’t notice a difference.

A skinny person can lose 30 pounds and it will be DRASTIC. If you’re over 300 and you lose 30 pounds, you might not even be able to tell. Keep going. Keep fucking going.

The biggest battle you’ll face is against hunger. At my heaviest, I lived to eat. I’d eat everything I could, and I’d still always be hungry. Because of how our bodies store fat, I’ve heard it described something like this: “Obese people are surrounded by layers of fat, but they’re nutritionally starving inside.” Really the only solution I’ve ever found is keto. Before I did keto 100% I would try and up my fat intake to stay full longer, but if you’re eating extra fat and still eating a shit ton of carbs, that’s not gonna work. Get rid of the fucking carbs (except for vegetables, veggies are dope).

Your friends will sabotage you. Look, you’re the fat friend. You’re the friend your friends call when they want ice cream, pizza, cake, and they don’t want to feel guilty about it because you’re fatter than they are. It’s shitty, but it’s happened to me. Misery loves company, and the people around you will doubt/question/criticize or flat-out berate your lifestyle change. Find new friends or get real fucking good at setting good boundaries.

TRACK YOUR MACROS When I wasn’t tracking my macros, I was genuinely confused about how I was so heavy. It seemed to defy physics. I would eat fruits and vegetables, and it didn’t feel like I should be as heavy as I was until I started tracking my macros. Fuck, I was eating a lot of food. Like, a lot. A pastry with coffee. Coffee with loads of sugar. Free food. Drive-ins. So, so many calories (thousands!!!) came from source I didn’t even CONSIDER until I stopped eating shitty food. If you think you can eye-ball your keto journey and “guess” about keeping your carbs under 20 g, congrats, you’re wrong.

One of the things I realized was that I was eating way way too much food to counter-balance the constant fatigue I felt, which actually turned out to be crazy blood sugar spikes from, ironically, all that food. It’s such a vicious cycle.

Stop eating out Just stop. Restaurants and fast food joints have zero stake in your health. In fact, they benefit greatly from your dependence on them and your repeat business. Cook your own food. It sucks, it’s a learning curve, but you’ll save all the money and you’ll actually see results, instead of eating fast food “low carb” and still ingesting 3,000+ calories a day. Keto doesn’t really work if you’re still eating giant, giant meals that just happen to be the right food. Keto is great, but it’s not going to replace actual physics. Trust me, I tried living on blocks of cheese every day at first.F

Figure out what works for you, and fuck the rest. My well-meaning friends are full of advice that seems good in theory, but absolutely doesn’t work for me. I’ve gotten good at saying, “thanks for the advice!” and then just doing whatever the fuck I was already doing. My advice now comes from this subreddit, YouTube videos from doctors and nutrition experts, and science-based articles and books that genuinely know how the body works, NOT from my dear, sweet older co-worker who insists that fruit is the key to true weight loss.

Please feel free to add your own! I’m always looking for more advice from big people who’ve been there! KCKO!